How much longer does it take large trucks to stop?
Large trucks are different from other vehicles in many ways. Some of these ways touch on safety. Take, for example, the distance it takes for big rigs and similar vehicles to stop.
Large trucks generally require much more stopping distance than the average vehicle. How much longer does stopping take for such trucks? According to materials from a recent safety campaign the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is involved in, around 40 percent longer.
And there are certain things that especially lengthen the required stopping distance for a big rig. One is if the vehicle is driving in slippery weather conditions, such as rain or snow. Another is if the truck is carrying a particularly heavy load.
Among the things the stopping distance of a vehicle impacts is how much space you have to give the vehicle to safely merge in front of it. So, the long stopping distance of trucks can be an important thing for motorists to factor in when taking efforts to stay safe when driving near a big rig. As the FMCSA notes, it is important for motorists to give a large truck appropriate space when entering a lane in front of it.
Another situation in which the unique aspects of trucks can be important to take into account is when a person is investigating their compensation options following being injured in a collision with a big rig. The special safety concerns related to trucks, including concerns related to stopping distance, can affect what sorts of details and evidence touch on whether or not the truck’s driver and the involved truck company acted negligently in connection to the accident. This, along with the special legal issues truck accidents can raise, underscores how important obtaining representation from an attorney knowledgeable of the unique aspects of cases involving big rig crashes can be for a person following being hurt by a large truck.
Source: Safety+Health, “Driving safely around trucks and buses: FMCSA partners on public campaign,” June 28, 2017
